Thursday, July 29, 2010

Things have been a wee bit tricky around here with not the least of our problems being a buggered hard drive ... on a six month old computer! Which is why I am also a bit behind in sharing what was (so glad it's past tense), my creative space a week or so ago ...

My poor little fellow had a runny nose that quickly became difficulty breathing which then had us racing back to hospital only a few months after our last visit. This time though the poor tike wound up with pneumonia which saw us moving into the hospital for a week. Half way through our stay we got the news that in fact he had a respiratory virus as well, which meant we were moved into an isolated room which he was not allowed to leave.

Enter the books, DVD's, finger puppets, favourite toys, and thanks to the proximity of Art on King, scissors, paper and copious amounts of glue and we had ourselves a regular little hospital room creative space going on!

And what about my creative space? Well thanks also to the (too) close proximity of countless bookshops and Mag Nation (thanks Bianca!) I had a spot of reading material

And after staring at the hard cold surfaces of a hospital room it was only so long before a bombing was required ... my first!

I have to say a massive "thanks" to all my twitter buddies who were literally my lifeline to the world outside the hospital ward and for all the local offers of help and donuts (why did I refuse those?).

For more and no doubt healthier creative spaces duck on over to Kirsty's place.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

After years of having the same scarf on the needles not knowing how to cast off I had given up hope of ever becoming, "a knitter".

Then even after completing a cowl (or two) I still did not consider myself a knitter. Because in the world according to me I could not consider myself a knitter until I had knitted arm holes.

And look, I did!

Two of them in fact! This little number was a pattern suggested to me by Ms Knit herself, Tania who, if I recall correctly, claimed the ease of this start-at-the-top-knit-in-the-round-till-the-end vest had the power to transform non-knitters into knitting freaks. Come to think of it she may not have used the word "freaks"...

Well anyway she was right! I loved knitting this and so far Ms Pinkalicious loves it as well. Of course I outsourced the weaving in of ends bit to my Mum when she came for a visit and as payment I finally handed over her completed 60th birthday quilt ... seven months after her 60th.

I think I mentioned at the time of making this how much I struggled with this quilt. Not just because of matching up pinwheel points but also because I chose fabrics I thought Mum would like (which she does), but which I just really did not.

Well now that it's all quilted (long arm - love the weight this added to it), and bound and, well, out of this house it is beginning to grow on me ... a bit.

For more creative spaces (probably including some real knitters who can even do sleeves!), head on over to Kirsty's place.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Poor Luca. What with all the pink quilty, yarny*, dressy** stuff going on in the house for Ms Pinkalicious my poor fella tends to miss out a bit.

A year ago I bought some electric blue corduroy as a last resort at Spotlight because it was the only colour they had left and I was desperate to redeem myself in the pant making department. Well, a year later folks and I finally decided to dive back into the pant making waters. Using a pair of much loved pants as a sort-of pattern and the opportunity to sew afforded by a rainy day and Mary Poppins on high rotation, I got to whipping up the duds.***

For some reason (probably aided by my addition of the psychedelic Prints Charming pockets), they turned out to look like a pair of disco flares circa 1970.

It was hard to get a photo in between bouts of twirls, leaps and pirouettes

And then finally Disco Stu was all boogied out

In what I can only gather is an overwhelming feeling of relief and sheer gratitude that I finally made him something he has barely taken them off in the last 24 hours. I really should make him things more often.

* Back to girly yarny related crafts tomorrow ...
** Are you coming to the Ice-Cream Social? You should!
*** I'm pretty sure "Duds" is Aussie slang for pants. When I referred to his pants this morning to his art teacher (who sounded English) as "duds", she very politely said, "Oh no they're not duds I think they're great" ...